The present invention relates to a dial type operating device.
In the related art, for example, there is an operating device shown in FIG. 4 as an operating device which is provided for an air conditioning operation of vehicles. In the operating device, from the left side in FIG. 4, a dial 1, an indication piece 2, a display panel 3, a panel support 4, a body 5, a push button 6, a light guiding piece 7, an intermediate gear 8, a switch 9, a LED 10, resistors 11 to 13, an insulator 14, a lamp 15, a final stage gear 16, a housing 17, and a pulley unit 18 are present in this order.
The dial 1 is formed in a hollow short cylindrical shape. The indication piece 2 is mounted on one place of an inner circumferential portion of the dial. The front end of the indication piece 2 is exposed forward from a recessed portion 19 of a leading edge of the dial 1. In addition, gear teeth 20 are formed in an inner circumferential portion of a rear portion of the dial 1.
The display panel 3 is formed in a circular sheet having a hole 21 in the center portion, in this case, a plurality of displays 22 which display a level of a set temperature in the interior of a cabin of a vehicle are annularly disposed in the front surface of the display panel 3, and the display panel 3 is attached to a front surface of the panel support 4. The panel support 4 is concentric with the hole 21 of the display panel 3 and includes a ring portion 23 which has substantially the same diameter as that of the hole 21.
The body 5 includes a large cylindrical portion 5b and a small cylindrical portion 5c which are concentrically disposed with respect to each other in the front of a polygonal box-shaped portion 5a. The panel support 4 is fixed to a leading edge of the small cylindrical portion 5c. The dial 1 is rotatably fitted to an outer circumference of the large cylindrical portion 5b. As result, the display panel 3 is exposed forward from an opening portion 1a of the front surface of the dial 1.
In this case, a display 24 of characters (NC) of an air conditioner and a light-transmitting window 25 are provided in the front surface of the push button 6. The light guiding piece 7 is inserted to a portion which extends to the light-transmitting window 25. The push button 6 is inserted from the small cylindrical portion 5c of the body 5 to the ring portion 23 of the panel support 4 and exposed forward from the hole 21 of the display panel 3.
The intermediate gear 8 includes gear teeth 8a in the front portion and gear teeth 8b in the rear portion. The gear teeth 8a of the front portion are inserted into a hole (not shown) which is formed in the lower portion of the polygonal box-shaped portion 5a of the body 5 and are meshed with the gear teeth 20 of the dial 1.
The switch 9, the LED 10, and the resistors 11 to 13 are mounted on the insulator 14, and the lamp 15 is also mounted on the insulator 14. Moreover, a notch 26 is formed in the lower portion of the insulator 14, the gear teeth 8b of the rear portion of the intermediate gear 8 are inserted into the notch 26, and therefore, the insulator 14 is combined with the body 5. In addition, a connector 27 is integrally formed in one place of the outer circumferential portion of the insulator 14, a mating connector (not shown) is connected to the connector 27, and the switch 9, the LED 10, the resistors 11 to 13, and the lamp 15 are electrically connected.
The final stage gear 16 is formed in a short cylindrical shape having a bottom, gear teeth 28 are formed in the inner circumferential portion of the gear 16, and the gear teeth 28 are meshed with the gear teeth 8b of the rear portion of the intermediate gear 8. In addition, a noncircular pulley shaft inserting hole 29 is formed in the center portion of the final stage gear 16.
The housing 17 accommodates the final stage gear 16 and is formed in a polygonal box shape which is combined with the polygonal box-shaped portion 5a of the body 5 while interposing the insulator 14, and a circular pulley shaft inserting hole 30 is formed in the center portion of the housing.
In the pulley unit 18, a pulley (not shown) which is a rotated body, is housed in a pulley case 18a. A noncircular hollow shaft 31 of the pulley is led out from the center portion of the pulley case 18a to the outside, and the pulley shaft 31 penetrates the pulley shaft inserting hole 30 of the housing 17 and is inserted into the pulley shaft inserting hole 29 of the final stage gear 16. In addition, the pulley unit 18 leads a cable 32, which is hung to the pulley, from one place of the circumference side portion of the pulley case 18a to the outside. In addition, a damper (not shown) for controlling temperature of air, which is supplied to the interior of a cabin of a vehicle is attached to the tip of the cable 32.
In the above configuration, if the dial 1 is gripped with a hand of an operator and is rotated, the rotation is transmitted from the gear teeth 20 to the gear teeth 8a of the front portion of the intermediate gear 8, and the rotation is transmitted from the gear teeth 8b of the rear portion of the intermediate gear 8 to the gear teeth 28 of the final stage gear 16. Therefore, the final stage gear 16 is rotated, and the pulley (not shown) is rotated through a noncircular engagement portion of the pulley shaft inserting hole 29 of the final stage gear 16 and the pulley shaft 31 of the pulley unit 18. Thereby, the cable 32 is wound, the damper (not shown) attached to the tip of the cable 32 is operated, and the temperature of the air which is supplied to the interior of the cabin of the vehicle is adjusted.
In addition, the display 22 of the display panel 3 displays the adjusted temperature, and the indication piece 2 indicates a position (corresponding to the rotation angle of the dial 1) of the display 22 of the display panel 3, that is, a set temperature position according to the rotation of the dial 1. Moreover, at this time, the lamp 15 illuminates the entire display 22 from the rear side of the display. Accordingly, the display 22 has light transmissivity.
In addition, if the push button 6 is pressed with a fingertip of an operator, the switch 9 which is mounted on the insulator 14 is pressed and operated, and the air conditioner is operated. Moreover, the LED 10 emits light, and the light transmits the light guiding piece 7, emerges in the light-transmitting window 25 of the push button 6, and displays the operation of the air conditioner (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).    [Patent Document 1] JP-A-2005-96579
In the configuration of the related art, operation of the dial 1 is transmitted to the pulley, which is the rotated body of the pulley unit 18, through engagements of the gear teeth in several stages, and a backlash inevitably exists in each of the engagements of the gear teeth of each stage. Therefore, the operation of the pulley cannot be directly performed by the dial 1 due to each backlash and operation feeling is deteriorated. In addition, due to the fact that the operation undergoes the engagements of the gear teeth in several stages, size of the device is increased, and the costs are also increased. Moreover, the final stage gear 16 to which the rotating force is transmitted from the gear teeth 8b of the rear portion of the intermediate gear 8 includes the gear teeth 28, which is meshed with the gear teeth 8b, in the inner circumferential portion, and the center portion of the final stage gear is connected to the pulley shaft 31. Therefore, from this relationship, in the insulator 14 which is an electric equipment member, the connector 27 is provided on the outer circumferential portion of the insulator 14 other than the center portion of the insulator 14; accordingly, there is a disadvantage in that size of the device is increased.